My Baby Fix!

I got my baby fix big-time today! Becky and Bonnie brought Addyson and Kaarin brought Allison to lunch with us today at Azteca in Spokane. Addyson is three months old and Allison is five weeks old -- what a pair of little sweethearts! They both slept through lunch in their carriers so we actually had a chance to visit. But both Mommys were kind enough after lunch to get their little darlings up so that I could hold them for a while.

I had seen pictures of both of them on Facebook, but this is the first time I got to see them in REAL time. Kaarin and Bonnie were colleagues of mine at the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) before I retired. This is Bonnie's first baby and Kaarin's second (Sister Tessa is three years old.). You know, you forget how tiny they are when they are so new, but you never forget that wonderful unique baby smell.

The rest of the day was sort of anti-climatic. Forry and I both had routine doctor appointments in the afternoon, we made a Costco run and then took Son Sean out to dinner at Gordy's Szechuan before we came home. (The picture is of Sean with his latest acquisition, an antique stove.)

A Bi-Annual Appointment with Shears!

Today was a big day -- we went to Spokane to get our twice-a-year haircuts! I called Sarah (who has cut my hair for more than 25 years!) on Monday to see if we could get an appointment within the next month or so, knowing how busy she always is. To my surprise, she said she had just had a cancellation and could we be there at 2 PM on Wednesday?

So I got my bangs realigned (I've been trimming them myself after being VERY disappointed in the couple of trims I had gotten on the road) and the split ends trimmed off the rest. I had to chuckle as Sarah said she had been quite appalled when I said I was going to acquiese to Forry's desire for long hair when I retired, but now realizes she actually likes it long and without a permanent.

She cut a good three inches off of Forry's hair. I think she could have cut off again as much and he still would have had long hair... But, she really likes his curls...

We had gotten to Spokane early enough to meet Cherie (our massage therapist when we lived in Spokane) for lunch at Maggie's on the South Hill. She had crab cakes, Forry had a Reuben and I had a Crab Louie salad. The food was wonderful, BUT the conversation was even better. It was good to catch up on her life and all of the trips she has made with her partner. We'd probably still be there talking if we hadn't had hair appointments and she hadn't had to get back to work!

And we got home in time to go to Pastor Terry and Jerilee's for supper. He had barbecued steaks. Yum! And again we had a great time just visiting until all of a sudden we realized it was almost ten PM!

You Need a Man

who can take almost anything apart and fix it -- or at least figure out how it works! Other qualities for a man -- tall, blonde and handsome -- yeah, they're helpful too, but when it comes right down to it, a fix-it guy is well worth having!

Today it was Auntie Violet's toilet. She's been complaining that it no longer held water -- that the water just seemed to seep away. So it seemed a new seal was in order. While we were at Camping World, we checked them out. Seems there are two of them that fit her Landsea toilet, but we couldn't find the model number so that we could know which one was the right one. We probably should have picked up both kinds and returned the one we didn't need, but Forry took an educated guess based on all of the measurements.

It was too gusty to spray today, so today was the day to take everything apart. The top portion of the toilet assembly comes off and this seal sort of goes in the middle part (darn, why didn't I think to take a picture?!). Well, the seal we bought wasn't exactly like the one she had, but strangely enough, it actually seemed to fit better! Now we are wondering whether the wrong one was put in initially at the factory...?

Well, after letting everything sit for a period of hours (and a few tests), Forry had it all working -- AND he installed a new sprayer as well. (Ours was not always shutting off well, it tended to drip.) Oh, and the model number, he never did find it, even when he had it all apart.

Never thought I'd be writing about fixing toilets, but it's like everything else in an RV -- or a house, for that matter -- things wear out, break, don't work anymore and hopefully someone is around who can fix them!

Hoary Crest

Once again today, Forry has been out spraying weeds. His usual enemy is Russian Knapweed, but this year it seems to be Hoary Crest that is his nemesis. He took my old camera out with him this morning to take some pictures of what it was he was spraying:


It's a pretty plant, but it is on the Noxious Weed Board's hit list, so it has to go!

I went over to Diane's late this afternoon to work out in the pool. Sandi was there as well and the three of us put in a pretty good session. I can tell that I am tired tonight.

Forry barbecued a wonderful piece of Copper River salmon tonight that I bought yesterday. I had marinated it for a brief bit with a lemon pepper marinade -- it was scrumptious!

Today is...

Today is almost over and I am already trying to remember what it is we did today. I know that I slept almost 12 hours last night and now I am feeling great. I sometimes wonder if I just don't get sick when I am really tired out?

We just sort of lounged around this morning, I actually made bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of granola. I still had some of the wonderful bacon that we got at the Mennonite Country Auction in the freezer...

This afternoon we ran into Moses Lake to take care of getting gift cards for upcoming birthdays and 8th grade promotions so that we could get them into the mail.

We stopped by Vic and Phyl's to see how things were going today. Sounds like the modifications Curt made to the bathroom (took the shower doors off so that the shower chair could be placed inside) worked well.

Made a stop at the grocery store and stocked up, but, darn, I didn't bring my list along, so still don't have everything we're out of!

Million Dollar Rain

My Dad always said that any rain at all in June was worth a million dollars in increased wheat production -- I hope that there's been enough of these thunder showers to make that an accurate forecast! The temperature is a good 25 degrees cooler today than it was just a couple of days ago. We've had intermittent sprinkles with an occasional good shower since last night. Yesterday we had just gotten enough to make big dust splotches on all the windows, but today you could actually call it rain a couple of times. Oh, the joy of living in a desert -- our ranch averages 7-9 inches of rainfall a year!

Today was a bit better of a day although my stomach is still a bit queasy, especially this morning. I've not done much today but a couple of loads of laundry and read. I've been reading the Twilight series (to catch up with my granddaughters!), finished those four and Danielle Steel's Impossible.

Slumber Party

I couldn't get on line last night and I was too tired to drive back up on the hill to see if I could get better reception...

It was good to spend the night with Phyl and have a chance to visit -- and to see how she was actually doing. We went to the Menno Women in Mission meeting out at church in time for the meeting and lunch. Regan had prepared a commemorative book for Phyl with pictures of our gathering a few weeks ago and a really neat poem she had written. (The ladies decided to give me four of the comforters they had made for the next new home owners in Dulzura after I had told them how pleased the recipients were with the two that we had from Oregon.) After we had returned to Moses Lake, Phyl's Son Curt and Grandson Peter came into town in the late afternoon and started putting some adaptive hand-holds and grab bars up to help make it easier for her to get around.

Forry and I went to get groceries, stopping at Chico's to pick up a pizza that we took back and shared with Vic and Phyl. Vic's overnight at the apnea clinic in Wenatchee seems to have gone well, but he'll have to wait for his doctor's appointment to get any results.

This morning Forry and I headed for the airport in Spokane where I was supposed to catch an 11:25 flight to Chicago for an Executive Director Search Committee meeting tomorrow. I got violently ill on the way and made a decision that I was in NO condition to fly. I'm just glad I didn't wait until I was on the plane to get sick! It was a fairly short-lived thing -- at least I hope I'm over it! I will try to participate somewhat in the meeting tomorrow by conference call.

As a result, I certainly didn't get anything accomplished today -- except for several long naps!

A Very Good Day...

It's been a good day! I went over to Diane's this morning (about three? miles away) to work out in her pool with her. Di used to teach aerobics classes and has created a choreographed pool workout. She taught me about half of it -- it's a pretty good workout, but it really felt good. I'm going to try to get over there a couple of days a week to exercise with her and her friend.

After lunch I went into Moses Lake, stopped at the grocery store on the way to Phyllis and Vic's. Vic had an overnight appointment in Wenatchee for a repeat sleep apnea evaluation, since it's been a lot of years since he had first done it. His daughter Pam went down with him, while I stayed here with Phyl.

It's been nice to spend some time with Phyl, she dozed off and on, but we've gotten some good visiting done. I had found some raspberries at the store that we both enjoyed along with our supper.

Sort and Clean

Every once in a while, we almost have to go through everything and start over! After you've been on the road for a while, it's amazing how much "stuff" shows up in both Auntie Violet and in the Toad.

Today we took the Jeep apart, emptied everything out and gave it a good cleaning. Vacuumed, shampooed the seats, used ArmorAll on the dash, cleaned the windows, etc. The back seats and the rear of the Toad seem to be our secondary storage area. Everything that doesn't have a space in Auntie Violet ends up there. Some of it because it seems easier -- for example, it's easier to put the lawn chairs in and out of the Jeep than it is to put them away in the bays. Some of it because we don't know what else to do with it -- the box my computer came it that we wanted to keep until we were sure this one wasn't a lemon too. And some of it, like Forry's compressor, because it just doesn't fit anywhere else.

Then you start looking at everything when it's time to put stuff back and wondering if you really need to have it all...

Tomorrow morning I'm going over to our neighbor Diane's to swim (exercise) in the morning, then will head in to Moses Lake to spend the night with my friend Phyllis while Vic goes to Wenatchee for his sleep apnea testing.

Once again, it's Monday

I started the day early with a conference call with the Search Committee. We'll be meeting in person in Chicago on Saturday, but we had a lot to review before then. The rest of the committee are all in Central or Eastern time. I got a chuckle out of their reactions when I commented upon the gorgeous sunrise -- they'd all been up and going for quite a while by then.

Forry went in this morning to play golf with the Menno bunch. They had quite a group with a couple of fellows from Warden joining them as well. He was tired when he got home -- it's not like when he used to golf a couple of times a week.

I bought a new camera when we were in Spokane on Friday, a Nikon Coolpix, and I spent part of the day reading the manual and trying to figure out what all the icons mean. There are 18 of them under portraits alone!

I'm still having trouble with my internet connection -- I'm trying to send this from the ranch.